How Baseball's Arm Whisperer Fixes Broken Pitchers
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How Baseball’s Arm Whisperer Fixes Broken Pitchers Ivan Nova’s unexpected resurgence marks yet another successful reclamation project for the Pittsburgh Pirates under the tutelage of pitching coach Ray Searage. By: Jared Diamond- The Wall Street Journal Pittsburgh In today’s data-driven, power-centric version of baseball, starting pitchers tend to follow a similar formula: They throw as hard as they can for as long as they can, racking up strikeouts until they reach the 100-pitch mark, usually around the sixth inning or so. The days of one man owning the mound for 27 outs ended long ago. But it seems Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Ivan Nova never received that message. Upon arriving here in a trade with the New York Yankees last August, he has emerged as the ultimate throwback, dominating opposing lineups in a manner hardly seen for decades. In his first 15 outings for Pittsburgh, Nova completed four, more than anyone else during that span. Even more improbable, in 91 2/3 innings of work, he has issued just four total walks. That means when Nova pitches, he is equally likely to go the distance as he is to miss the strike zone four times to a given batter. “A lot of guys like to strike out everybody,” said Nova, who is scheduled to start Saturday night in Miami. “I like seeing all those ground balls and quick outs. It makes me more happy than getting 10 strikeouts.” Nova’s unexpected resurgence marks yet another successful reclamation project for the Pirates, who, under the tutelage of pitching coach Ray Searage, have reached the playoffs in three of the past four years. Since assuming his post full-time in 2011, Searage has earned the reputation as perhaps the sport’s premier arm whisperer, known for taking castoffs and also-rans and resurrecting their careers. After putting up a 4.75 ERA in nine seasons for four other teams, Edinson Volquez posted a sparkling 3.04 ERA in his one year with Searage in 2014. A.J. Burnett came to Pittsburgh in 2012 at age 35, his ERA having ballooned to 5.20 over the previous two seasons with the Yankees; he lowered it to 3.41 over the next two years. J.A. Happ spent just two months with the Pirates in 2015 and proceeded to go 20-4 with a 3.18 ERA for the Toronto Blue Jays last season. And now comes Nova, the latest and arguably most impressive example. He has a 2.75 ERA with the Pirates, down from 4.41 in seven seasons with the Yankees. Because of the presence of the designated hitter, American League ERAs always run a bit higher than National League ERAs, but that doesn’t account for Searage’s knack for coaxing dramatic turnarounds. “It’s pretty special what he does, and it’s a big reason why we’re the pitching staff we are now,” Pittsburgh backup catcher Chris Stewart said. “It’s not just one or two guys. It seems like one or two guys every year.” Searage does not accomplish this with mechanical overhauls. He said he hardly touched Nova’s delivery. Instead, Searage thrives by espousing a simple philosophy that he calls the Pirates’ Golden Rule: “Try to make something happen in three pitches or less.” While most teams purport to emphasize efficiency and pitching to contact, none do it with the fervor of the Pirates. With the support of general manager Neal Huntington and other top-ranking officials, the Pirates begin preaching the gospel of “three pitches or less” from the moment pitchers enter the organization in the low minors. The indoctrination continues in the majors, where Searage often leaves printouts at pitchers’ lockers showing where they stand in things like first-pitch strike percentage, two-strike-out-of-three rate and three-ball counts. When those numbers slip, the pitchers hear about it. “Being forward-thinking is great, and we’re very forward-thinking here, too,” ace righty Gerrit Cole said. “But a lot of it boils down to fastball command.” Most of the time, positive results follow. The Pirates have averaged 3.75 pitches per batter faced since the start of Searage’s tenure, the fewest in the majors. They have induced a grounder on about 49% of balls in play, the best in the sport. The data-providing service Baseball Info Solutions classified 20% of the balls in play against them since 2011 as “soft contact,” also the best in MLB. That explains how since 2011, Pittsburgh ranks sixth in baseball in ERA despite ranking 22nd in strikeout rate. For the small- market Pirates, whose limited budget makes attracting high-end free agents difficult, the ability to fix broken pitchers sets the franchise apart. “Through the minor leagues all the way up to here, this is what we preach,” Searage said. “We are aggressive. We will attack you. We want your swing, and we will make adjustments accordingly. These are our core values.” For Nova to accept Searage’s teachings, he first needed to regain his confidence, which had dropped in his final years with the Yankees. While in the pressure cooker of New York, Nova constantly feared for his job security, worrying about relegation to the bullpen or even a demotion to the minors. Nova said he frequently found himself thinking, “What happens if I don’t win the game? What happens if I don’t go enough innings? What happens if I give up too many runs?” “It’s hard to pitch” under those conditions, he said. With the Pirates, those concerns have vanished. They assured Nova that they intended to keep him in the rotation even in the face of struggles, instructing him simply to pound the strike zone. Before long, Stewart said “he realized he didn’t have to nitpick.” Starting catcher Francisco Cervelli, Nova’s teammate with the Yankees from 2010 through 2014, said Nova “found who he really is.” The stats show as much. When he got to the Pirates, his command improved dramatically, throwing just 3.6% of his pitches in three-ball counts—more than a full point better than the next-closest pitcher in that category, Boston’s Chris Sale. “I’m not worried about anything,” Nova said. “I just attack the hitters. I just focus on getting quick outs.” For sure, the Pirates face an uphill battle, competing with the mighty Chicago Cubs in the NL Central. They rank near the bottom of baseball in most offensive categories and recently lost All-Star outfielder Starling Marte for half the season after he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug. But one thing won’t change: The Pirates’ pitchers probably won’t be the problem. “We believe in it,” Searage said. “And pitchers have believed in it because they see the success rate.” We Have Made History / PITTSBURGH PIRATES By: Gift Ngoepe – The Player’s Tribune When they announced my name over the P.A. system and told the crowd at PNC Park that Gift Ngoepe would be entering the game — a real Major League Baseball game — as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ second baseman, the first thing I did was say some words to my mom. She passed away a few years ago. But before that my mom had raised me in a town near Johannesburg, South Africa, called Randburg. We lived in a tiny room inside a clubhouse belonging to the Randburg Mets baseball team. Mom cooked for the players and cleaned the clubhouse, so they allowed us to live there. When she wasn’t busy working, she would watch me run around on the diamond out front and throw pop flies to myself for hours. She told me to never give up on my dream of playing in the major leagues. Everything I have accomplished — everything I am, really — I owe to her. So when I walked out onto the field at PNC after nearly nine years in the minors, and as the first African-born player to appear in a Major League Baseball game, I spoke to her. “This is it, Mom,” I said. “We did it. We have made history!” “Everything we’ve been working so hard to achieve, for all those years and years, has finally arrived.” “The dream I’ve held since I was a young boy, and that you always supported, has finally come true.” “I did it, Mom. Just like you always told me I would.” I came into the game in the top of the fourth, and it felt like my heart was pumping out of my chest. Cervelli and J-Hay noticed it, too. I’m not sure how I kept it together, honestly. I led off the bottom of the fourth, and prior to my very first at bat as a big league player, walking up to the batter’s box, I was a nervous wreck. I tried my best to get control of my emotions. It was not easy, let me tell you. I had to focus heavily on my breathing, because there was so much adrenaline running through me. I worked hard to control my nerves, but I was in my own head the entire time. “You gotta calm down, Gift. You gotta calm down. Control your emotions. It’s just another baseball game. Just go out there and do your thing.” That’s easier said than done, believe me. When I stepped into the box, I took a very deep breath, and then I looked out at Jon Lester. “O.K. Gift,” I said to myself, “This is really happening.